<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>errare humanum est by Mossgreen, Soleera</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28074333">errare humanum est</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mossgreen/pseuds/Mossgreen'>Mossgreen</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soleera/pseuds/Soleera'>Soleera</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>2770 ab urbe condita [72]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>2770 ab urbe condita - Fandom, Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Ancient Rome, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic, Other, Saturnalia, Slavery, Wedding Planning</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:41:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,090</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28074333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mossgreen/pseuds/Mossgreen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soleera/pseuds/Soleera</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When your nearest relation and future mother-in-law start trying to plan your big day, you need help, as Aurelia discovers. She only has one place she can turn - her future father-in-law.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>2770 ab urbe condita [72]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1059413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2770 ab urbe condita - the collected fiction</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Talia tried not to pant while she did her best to keep up with her mistress’ brisk pace, but this wasn’t an easy task at all. It didn’t help that Aurelia nearly had run from the house of her grandmother, fuming with anger, and only slowed down when they reached the Forum.</p><p>Now, they were walking up the Quirinal and Talia could still not say, where her mistress was heading. The young slave couldn’t remember if Aurelia had any acquaintance here – she didn’t think so, but what did she know? The patrician lady owned her for a little over two years now and she didn’t always take Talia with her. It was entirely possible somebody she knew lived in one of these posh houses.</p><p>The girl tried not to gawk at her surroundings. If she lost sight of Aurelia in this area of the city it would be disastrous: Talia had never been here and had no idea how to get back home. Although she supposed she could search for the next Vigilium officer and tell them she lost her mistress. They wouldn’t be pleased but they would bring her to where she belonged.</p><p>While she tried to stick close to her mistress, Talia puzzled over the question of what had led to Aurelia’s epicly bad mood.</p><p>There had been an email announcement from her domina’s tabula. Talia had fetched the device and then, as any good slave should, had averted her gaze, while her owner read. Now though, she regretted it. Shortly after, Aurelia’s normally very even temper sparked high – in fact, it exploded.</p><p>The tabula had been hurled across the room and landed, thankfully, on the bed. Aurelia hadn’t noticed nor did she seem to particularly care since she already punched a number into her phone. Only then Talia dared to look at her domina and regretted the action immediately.  Never before had she witnessed this kind of anger in her mistress's face. She hadn't even known Aurelia was capable of such.</p><p>From the words spoken during the short call, Talia guessed that her domina had called Master Publius in India, although there weren’t any sweet words exchanged like they usually did. The girl also gathered that Master’s mother and Mistress Aufidia had done something most displeasing. She had no time to figure out what exactly this was.</p><p>Aurelia’s voice was barely controlled when she gave Talia the order to pack the tabula in her satchel and get ready for a walk. The girl hurriedly obeyed without even thinking. She did wonder about the nasty look her domina gave her grandmother when she crossed the atrium, though.</p><p>Mistress Aufidia answered only with a nasty look of her own and a short: "Accept it, Aurelia. Helena Terentia is right. It’s far more convenient for everyone."</p><p>Her domina countered, "This isn’t your decision! And certainly not hers!"</p><p>Talia had still not the slightest clue what was going on as her domina stopped right before a big domus, but she did swallow when Aurelia squared her shoulders and drew herself up to her full height – not that a five foot one inches tall woman could look very intimidating. At least, somebody told Talia this and right now she was inclined to disagree. Her domina looked ready to take down one of the mythic cyclops.</p><p>Apparently, though, Aurelia remembered some of her manners as she stepped up to the door and rang the bell. For a short moment, her maid had actually feared her mistress would try to break down the front door. Whoever owned this house wouldn’t be pleased about it, Talia was sure of it.</p><p>The door was opened and an elderly slave looked at Aurelia, blinked once in obvious surprise before he stepped aside and let them both in. Talia was a little bit bewildered about that. Who lived here that her domina was let in without being asked what her business with the master or mistress of the house was?</p><p> Moss and Junio were trying to wind a string of greenery around one of the pillars by the impluvium when the door opened and a young lady entered, anger radiating off her in waves. Moss, who was halfway up a ladder, looked down at her - and down; she was tiny, but the irritation in her face and demeanour was obvious to both slaves. The girl behind her looked nervous, though how much of that was due to her surroundings and how much was due to her mistress’ temper was anyone’s guess.</p><p>The two slaves exchanged glances before Junio (standing on the floor steadying the ladder) ventured, "Um, good morning, Miss. Our master’s not at home at the moment…"</p><p>The question <i>so why did Petrus let you in?</i> remained unasked.</p><p>"Of course he isn’t," Aurelia grumbled and Talia nearly looked up in alarm.</p><p>Why were they here then, if her mistress didn’t expect the master of the house to be at home? Her domina's voice was nearly honey sweet when she spoke next.</p><p>"One of you two: Could you be so kind as to fetch Willow for me? Tell him Aurelia Neratia Honoria has something to discuss with your master."</p><p>Moss scrambled down from the ladder Junio had been holding and vanished in the direction of what must be the slave quarters.</p><p>The strand of greenery began slowly unwinding itself, as Junio tried to think of something he could say that wouldn’t end in Aurelia Neratia Honoria disembowelling him with a spoon.</p><p>Thankfully it wasn’t long before Willow appeared, with Moss trotting along right behind him.</p><p>"Master Drusus isn’t in right now, Lady. Would you like a cup of coffee while you wait?"</p><p>Talia blinked in surprise as her mistress suddenly dropped her angry posture and nodded.</p><p>"That would be nice. And a glass of water for my poor girl, if you don’t mind."</p><p>The young slave would of course never protest against anything her domina said or did, but she wasn’t that thirsty and would have prefered if the other slaves in this house didn’t have to bother with her. They clearly had a lot of work to do!</p><p>But she could only give them a small sign with her fingers to signal she apologised for… well, everything. Her mistress barging in, for example. Aurelia didn’t see it, luckily.</p><p>Her mistress seated herself on a couch in the atrium and Talia stood silently behind her, waiting for whatever would happen next.</p><p>Moss heard the request for coffee and water and didn’t need telling twice, retracing his steps back to the slave quarters to procure them. </p><p>"Is there anything else I can do?" Willow asked politely, standing in front of the unexpected guest with his hands folded, though he sent a quick gesture of reassurance to the girl standing behind her mistress, who looked apologetic and anxious by turns.</p><p>"No," Aurelia answered. "Wait, a pillow so Talia doesn’t have to stand the whole time."</p><p>Talia sighed inwardly. She would prefer to stand. Kneeling could be far more tiresome.</p><p>"Of course," Willow said and glanced at Junio, who merely bent to move one of Ven’s floor cushions from its usual place and positioned it by the lady’s feet before stepping back as the last bit of the strand of greenery unwound, allowing it to slide down the pillar and settle in a tangled heap on the floor.</p><p>Talia winced as she saw this, while Aurelia made an amused sound.</p><p>"You will help with the decoration before you kneel down. It’s our fault this has happened," she ordered and Talia bowed her head.</p><p>At least Aurelia was sensible enough to offer this. But all of it wasn't answering Talia's question why her mistress acted as if she felt right at home.</p><p>The young slave sighed inwardly again and walked over to the strand of greenery to untangle it. She would find out sooner or later. It didn’t really matter to her.</p><p>"You don’t…" Junio began, and glanced across at the lady who had so imperiously marched in and taken over. The girl did, her mistress had ordered it. </p><p>Thank all the gods - someone had taken pity on them and sent Moss back out, with a tray that not only had a pot of coffee on it but some snacks as well, suitable for the time of day, and a glass of water. He set the tray down on the table by the side of the sofa, within reach, and poured a cup of coffee for the lady.</p><p>"Do you need anything else?" Willow asked, indicating that Moss should go back to what he was doing before their unexpected guest turned up.</p><p>"A way to turn the time back to exactly the point where Publius and me were dumb enough to allow his mother and my grandmother to take over the wedding planning," Aurelia answered, with sarcasm in her voice, before she sighed deeply. "No, Willow. But thank you for not kicking me out on the streets and telling me to come back later."</p><p>Talia tried very hard to not stare at her domina. She never <i>thanked</i> a slave. Praised them, yes, but this? She never heard of it.</p><p>Willow bowed his head, not quite enough to hide the smile. "There's a good coffee shop two doors down where you could have spent the morning waiting for Master Drusus - he walks right past on his way home. And I would probably have been whipped within an inch of my life if I had turned you away. I don't think we have a time machine in the house. Apologies."</p><p>Aurelia only smiled while she leaned back, apparently waiting patiently for Talia to finish her task. The girl hurried to do so without ripping the greenery - good it wasn’t that tangled and so she could hand it to Junio after some minutes of fussing with it. </p><p>Junio and Moss resumed the places they had been in moments before, with Moss up the ladder to fasten the strand at the top of the column while Junio held the ladder steady until Moss was done. It didn't take very long before they had finished winding the strand around the column, matching the other three.</p><p>Talia watched them out of the corner of her eyes while she added sugar and milk to the cup of coffee exactly how Aurelia preferred it before she knelt on the cushion at her mistress’ feet.</p><p>"Take your tabula out and do some of your lessons, Talia. We will be here for a while. But give me mine first."</p><p>The girl did as told and after another look at her owner - maybe Aurelia needed something else from her - she concentrated on her work. The young patrician woman began reading herself while she sipped at her coffee, ignoring everything around her. </p><p>Junio took the opportunity to return the ladder to its usual storage place before resuming his usual position by the wall. </p><p>It was perhaps half an hour later when the main door opened again to admit the master of the house, his secretary and personal slave following him. </p><p>"You can reschedule my meeting with Aulus Longinus Crispus for - oh. What are you doing in my atrium, Aurelia?"</p><p>Talia winced inwardly hearing his words and a short glance at the man who had spoken them, made her nearly gulp in fear. He didn’t look like he was somebody a slave wanted to cross. Scratch that, who <i>anybody</i> wanted to cross.</p><p>But her mistress seemed to ignore this little minor detail and smiled warmly. She had gotten to her feet as soon as the front door opened, but indicated to Talia she shouldn’t stand up.</p><p>"Seeking help and asylum," Aurelia answered, before she sighed. "Publius… he didn’t think about giving you a warning, I assume."</p><p>"I had hoped either I was mistaken, or he was." Drusus stood still, letting his attending slave unwind the pallium he had been wearing, before he crossed to give Aurelia a kiss on the cheek. "What exactly do you need my help with? And should I have my slaves make up a mattress for you in my lararium, or will a guest bed suffice?"</p><p>Talia could barely stop herself from looking up and staring at the man. Was he… well, she hoped he was joking! Her poor mistress, sleeping beside a lararium… No, Talia didn’t even want to try to imagine it.</p><p>"I'll take the guest bed, thank you very much," Aurelia answered, returning the greeting. "But I hope it won’t be necessary. And I need help with telling Helena Terentia and my grandmother to… how do I put it nicely… to keep their noses, hands and anything else out of my wedding?"</p><p>Aurelia sounded like she was smiling, but Talia could hear the stressed undertone.</p><p>"This would be the wedding that you haven't begun planning yet, I take it," Drusus said, taking a seat on the sofa across from where Aurelia had been sitting. The slave who had accompanied him returned from putting the pallium away and knelt to exchange his outdoor shoes for his indoor slippers before taking his position kneeling beside his master on another cushion.</p><p>He caught Talia's eye and gave her a gesture of reassurance. The girl blushed, but thanked him with a minor movement of her fingers.</p><p>She finally figured out who the master of the house was - it helped he looked a lot like Master Publius, only older. And his attending slave was kind of famous for something on VosTubum, although Talia wasn't allowed to watch the videos. Aurelia always said she was too young for this, whatever <i>this</i> was.</p><p>"We began with the planning," Aurelia mumbled, as she sat back down. "But it's hard to find a house in Rome - which I managed, by the way. I bought it four days ago. And before Publius didn't know when he would be back permanently, there was little sense in planning."</p><p>"One can always plan," Drusus pointed out. "Be that as it may, this is the situation as it is now, and we can't change the past. What have Helena Terentia and your grandmother done that's brought you to my house in search of sanctuary and help?"</p><p>Talia managed to not look up at her mistress with a look of pure disbelief while inwardly agreeing with Master Publius’ father. She was sure they could have planned anything without the date, or at least a major part of it. </p><p>"Somehow, through their various contacts and who knows what, they managed to get the information about the date Publius would have his honourable discharge sooner than us. And instead of maybe asking, they set a date for the wedding. Which, of course, is one suitable for them and not the date Publius and me wanted. And I only found out, because I tried to get an appointment with a priest of Juno - who was confused why I suddenly wanted a different date, because they already noted one done."</p><p>This time, Talia couldn't stop herself from looking shocked. Alright, that was…not something any relative should do. She could understand why her mistress was so furious.</p><p>Drusus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Arranging anything else would be irritating, but to dictate the very date? Yes, that's a step too far. What date did they summarily choose, and which date would you and my son prefer?"</p><p>Aurelia sighed unhappily. "We wanted a date in October. Now it's the eighth of September. This is alright, we don't need to change it. But this isn't the point! It's not their wedding, for Juno's sake. I mean if they decide this what comes next? The furniture of our house? How many slaves are we allowed to own? The name of our firstborn?!"</p><p>Out of the corner of her eyes Talia saw how her domina shook her head, suddenly looking very tired.</p><p>"They are not listening to me nor do they listen to Publius - apparently they think we are unable to sort everything out by ourselves. Which is partially our own fault, I can admit that. But since they ignore us, I need to ask you to tell them to let us make our own decisions from now on. Obviously I'm not intimidating enough and Publius is in India."</p><p>"Would you prefer a date in October? I presume you can arrange everything else yourselves, flame-coloured veil, torchbearers, procession, catering and everything. I'm happy to lend you my slaves to serve the food, if you need them."</p><p>"I would prefer if as few people as possible become aware of Publius and my problem with Helena and my grandmother, so it would be better to leave the date as it is," Aurelia admitted and added after a short pause: "Currently,  you, my partner, her husband and Senator Granius are the only persons who are aware of it. The senator only knows because his company will provide the catering. And he accepted the contract for a wedding, without a date, a guest list, or a location simply because my partner is friends with him and asked him to do her this favour - but I probably will take your offer to borrow your slaves for serving."</p><p>After another pause and some squirming in her seat she mumbled finally: "And I have had the flammeum since the signing of the betrothal contract."</p><p>"I shall call them - unless you would prefer I email? In the meantime, however, did you think to bring any spare clothing with you? I don’t think your grandmother will take too kindly to having her ideas for your wedding summarily ignored; you had best prepare to spend at least a few days here, if not the whole of Saturnalia."</p><p>Talia sighed inwardly. No, of course Aurelia hadn’t thought about that and had Talia been aware of the whole problem she would have packed a few things.</p><p>"I have maybe acted before I thought about that," Aurelia admitted, her usual smile back in place. "But I think I can convince a friend to bring me what I need. My probably very angry grandmother would never think about stopping <i>her</i>."</p><p><i>Poor Cinna</i>, Talia thought, having no doubt about who Aurelia meant, when she said ‘friend’. She only hoped her mistress would remember that Talia herself needed some clothes too.</p><p>"Are you sure you want Publius and me around you for the whole of Saturnalia?" Aurelia asked. "I know we have the tendency to be a little bit chaotic."</p><p>"The house is big enough for a little bit of chaos, and it’s a chaotic time of year anyway. And with you staying here, I might actually be able to see my son for, oh, five minutes or so, which is a chance I won’t have otherwise."</p><p>Aurelia smiled brightly.</p><p>"Well, it’s settled. Oh, Talia will stay here too, if you don’t mind. If I send her back, my gran will surely try to press information out of her and the poor girl doesn’t deserve such a treatment."</p><p>Talia had expected this, but felt a little bit nervous. Staying here, in this house, where she didn’t know anyone? Well, if Master Publius would come for a visit, Ufa would be here too, but… She tried not to squirm. If her mistress wished for it, she would stay, of course.</p><p>"Your friend had best pick something up for Talia too, then; I don’t think any of my slaves’ tunics would fit her. As for sleeping arrangements… You would probably be best in Helena Terentia’s old room, unless you would prefer to be elsewhere. And does Talia sleep in your room, or elsewhere?"</p><p>"Well, normally she sleeps at the slave quarters with the other female slaves of my grandmother, but I think she should stay with me in this case. And… you are aware I won’t stay in Helena's old rooms as soon as Publius arrives here, aren’t you?"</p><p>"The reason I think that room is best is because it has a double bed, and Publius’ room doesn’t. And you won’t disturb anyone there - you could go into the guest room, I suppose, which would be just as easy, but I doubt either of you will want to be right next to me."</p><p>Aurelia blinked once before she glanced at the slave kneeling beside Drusus and gave the master of the house an impish grin.</p><p>"Helena's old rooms will be fine."</p><p>Drusus was not in a position to see Ven’s eyes close momentarily so he could roll his eyes without being seen. He did catch Aurelia’s eye and note her expression.</p><p>"I’m pretty sure neither of us want to hear what you two are likely to get up to, either," he pointed out.</p><p>"You are probably right about that," Aurelia smiled.</p><p>Talia dropped her gaze to the floor and rolled her eyes, too. No, nobody wanted this.</p><p>"I think as soon as Publius arrives Talia will be fine to sleep in the slave quarters. She gets along with Ufa and generally listens to him."</p><p>What Aurelia probably meant was, Ufa would make sure nobody in the house would be unkind to Talia as long as he was near. But of course, she wouldn’t say that aloud. Talia only wondered who in this house would be so bold. Publius' father didn’t look like he would allow any of his slaves to misbehave.</p><p>Drusus snapped his fingers. "I want to speak to Willow."</p><p>"Yes, Master." Junio immediately turned and headed for the door to the back part of the house, where Willow had gone once he was no longer required to wait on Aurelia.</p><p>The majordomo entered a few moments later. "Master?"</p><p>"Have the bed in your mistress’ room made up, and a cot taken in. And make up two cots in the guest dormitory, too."</p><p>"Yes, Master."</p><p>"Would your partner care to stay for dinner after dropping your things off, do you think?" Drusus enquired.</p><p>"Uhm," Aurelia started and looked suddenly very uncomfortable, her gaze settling on Ven, before snapping back to Drusus.</p><p>"There is maybe something else, I should tell you first, before you invite her."</p><p>Drusus’ eyebrow arched. "Oh? You’re bringing a whole troupe of dancing girls with you, which is why you’ve been summarily thrown out of your grandmother’s house?"</p><p>"Uhm… no. You were invited to dinner at the house of the Vestals last month, right? With the emperor?" Aurelia tried at least to smile, but failed.</p><p>Drusus sighed. "That is strictly confidential, but you’re a member of Imperial Security. Yes, I was. No, I will not talk about what was discussed. Though I’m sure it’s common knowledge by now, anyway."</p><p>Aurelia nodded. "Yes, his stupid cousin. Former cousin. Whatever." She took a deep breath. "We got the order to check your household - before this whole other mess. And… well my partner… she spoke to Ven. In disguise." Aurelia looked for a moment a little bit afraid and added a very subdued: "I apologise for that."</p><p>Ven startled, obviously not expecting his name to be mentioned in this at all. </p><p>"It was mentioned that Imperial Security had done some investigating, but I had not expected it to have come from within my own family. Soon-to-be family. Perhaps I should rescind that order to Willow?"</p><p>Ven’s hand slipped to his master’s ankle and tapped it twice.</p><p>"Yes, pet?"</p><p>"It was very soon after you started making those videos, Master, and Valentine told me he was the one to request it. He… was worried."</p><p>"It was an order and to be honest, I thought better it’s me who combs through your private affairs then a complete stranger," Aurelia piped up. "My partner, Cinna, is… uhm. Well, she didn’t think you mistreated your boy and reported that nothing was wrong."</p><p>"I’m glad to hear it," Drusus remarked dryly and Aurelia winced visibly.</p><p>"Are you throwing me out now?"</p><p> "Are you still digging into my private affairs?"</p><p>"No. This was a one time only thing, I swear. And Cinna told me beforehand it was a stupid idea."</p><p>"You might listen to her on occasion, young lady. No, I’m not going to throw you out - I daresay you left home without enough money for a taxa capra, never mind a hotel room anywhere, and we are about to be family. As for Cinna, you can inform her that she and her husband are invited for dinner to make it up to her for having to pack up enough of your clothing for the Saturnalia week." He was not exactly smiling, but his expression was not as stern as might be expected at the pronouncement.</p><p>Aurelia swallowed, gave him a smile and nodded, while Talia breathed a small sigh of relief.</p><p>"Thank you. I will tell her."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Translations:<br/>errare humanum est - (title) To err is human<br/>Vigilium - police force, emergency services (see the excellent overview posted <a href="https://2770auc.dreamwidth.org/9453.html">here</a>)<br/>domina - mistress, female equivalent of dominus, master<br/>tabula - tablet<br/>domus - town house<br/>impluvium - the shallow pool in a Roman atrium<br/>pallium - male citizen's garment, less formal and cumbersome than a toga. Often colourful and could be worn in a variety of ways, usually pinned at the shoulder with a brooch<br/>lararium - private household shrine with a sacred space around it where a slave could claim sanctuary<br/>flammeum - flame-coloured veil, part of a Roman bride's traditional clothing<br/>taxa capra - cycleshaw</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While Aurelia made the necessary phone call to Cinna - to inform her where she was and to plead for help equally - Talia had been sent away. Somebody needed to show the girl around, so she wouldn't have to ask for directions constantly in the next few days and it seemed that somebody was Moss. </p><p>Talia stood in front of the other slave who had shown her so far parts of the garden - and telling her in no unclear words she should stay away from his master's ‘playroom’ under any circumstances - where the room her mistress would occupy was, as well as parts of the slave quarters downstairs. </p><p>The girl had tried to smooth out some wrinkles in her calf-length dark turquoise coloured tunic the whole time and looked nervous in general. So far she hadn’t said anything, but gave him a nod from time to time, to show she understood what he was saying. </p><p>"The house is...big", she finally said, and blushed immediately afterwards.</p><p>Moss nodded, pretending he hadn’t seen her blushing. "Yes - it’s pretty easy to find your way round, though, especially once you get used to it. If it helps, you can think of it in four quarters - the atrium, the garden, the bathhouse and the slave quarters."</p><p>Talia bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, I hope it will help me. I just… I’ve never been to such a big house." She dropped her gaze and added more quietly: "I didn’t even know my mistress has connections to somebody who lives in such a house. I knew Master Publius comes from a rich family, I just didn't realise how rich. I… is your owner very strict? He doesn't look like he forgives mistakes."</p><p>Moss considered her question. "Ye-es… only, he doesn't leave you guessing what he wants, especially if he knows you don't know him or his preferences. He'll probably leave you alone because you're not his. And you're not likely to be impertinent. At least, you don't look like the sort who's impertinent to free people." He paused at the foot of the stairs. "You're staying with your mistress for the next couple of nights, until Master Publius arrives, but after that, you'll be in the guest dormitory. You ought to see that now, just so you know where it is. And the upstairs ablutions."</p><p>"Yes, thank you," Talia nodded after she swallowed once. "I don’t think I’m even brave enough to be rude to… anyone, I guess. Though, Kara, one of the girls in the house where I live with my mistress, always tells me I am, when I refuse to answer her questions about my domina. But she spies for Mistress Aufida on her granddaughter, which isn’t something you should do, right?"</p><p>"No, you're quite right not to talk about your mistress like that. Nobody here will do anything like that." He led the way up the stairs. "This is where my master's guests' slaves usually sleep," he added, pushing open a door.  "There aren't any female slaves in this house, so you might be here on your own, unless you want Ufa to sleep here too. Nobody's going to do anything to hurt you or anything, and if there's anything you need, we can get it. I mean… feminine hygiene products or... anything." </p><p>"Thank you, that’s… uhm, I have what I need. Or ask my mistress. And Cinna will probably pack anything, anyway," Talia answered while blushing again and looking around. "It looks nice. I will be alright."</p><p>Moss smiled at her, relieved. He would have bought her things for her but would probably have felt a bit uncomfortable doing so. "This is our other dorm room, if Ufa isn't with you, he'll probably be put in here."</p><p>"I don’t know what our owners will decide, of course, but I think Ufa will stay in this room with me. Which is alright. Ufa is nice," the girl said, before biting her lower lip again. "How do you celebrate Saturnalia? Is your Master in the house? Because at home Mistress Aufida sometimes leaves the house and comes only back after the holiday."</p><p>"It's my first Saturnalia here, too. The others have said that Master stays here, but it's the traditional sort of celebration, so he lets us have the week off to do what we like, and there's the big Saturnalia dinner where we all eat together. From what everyone says, he stays out of the way."</p><p>"That’s good. I think. My mistress tried to cook on Saturnalia once - apparently, it was horrible. That was before she bought me, though," Talia said, and blushed again, probably realising she shouldn’t talk like that about the woman who owned her. "I mean… uhm." </p><p>Moss smiled at her. "It's OK, I won't tell. My old master was terrible at cooking, too. They wouldn't let him do anything more than just peel the vegetables."</p><p>The girl giggled as she heard this, clearly getting more comfortable. After looking around some more, she gazed up at her guide. "Is there anything else, I should know? How many slaves live here?"</p><p>"Um. Twelve or thirteen, I think. Something like that," Moss replied, and counted on his fingers. "You may not meet all of them, though, two of them work in the Phallusy store up the road, they just sleep here. In the house, there’s me and Junio - he’s the other house slave you met. Willow. Ven. Petrus the doorkeeper, and Icarus the gardener. Grumio’s the cook, and Davus is the handyman. And there’s the other kitchen staff, too - Felix and Chrestus, and Congrio. And Julianus, though he’s… awkward."</p><p>Talia nodded at each name he told her with a smile, but as he mentioned the last, her face showed confusion.</p><p>"He has the same name as the Emperor’s cousin," she mumbled with a frown.</p><p>"Ye-es," Moss said, a little uncertainly. He took a breath and continued, "He <i>is</i> the Emperor's cousin - all of us know, it was all over the news, about the trial and everything. Just, don't say anything to anyone outside the house?"</p><p>"Oh, I wouldn't," Talia assured him, her eyes big and honest. "I’m sure my mistress would be most displeased if I tell somebody anything. And I really don’t want to cause trouble to anyone."</p><p>"It's all right," Moss said. "Um. Do you have any questions you want to ask?"</p><p>"I…" Talia started and closed her mouth immediately afterwards, a frown appearing on her face. Finally she bit her lower lip and shook her head. "I don't really know. I guess I'll find my way round the house - I just hope I don't step on any toes. Or make a mistake. I don't want to embarrass my mistress."</p><p>She looked worried and nervous at the same time and tried, again, to smooth some none existent wrinkles from her tunic.</p><p>"You can always ask, if you need to - there's always someone around you can ask, if there's something you need to know. Master will leave you alone because you're not one of his slaves, your mistress is a guest. There might be more of us than you're used to, but everyone's nice enough. Davus can be a bit gruff, but you won't see a lot of him anyway, because he's mainly in the workshop - he does all the useful things like putting up shelves and things."</p><p>Moss opened another door. "If you like crafts and things, we've got this space to use when all our work is done."</p><p>"The only things I ever crafted was some embroidery and one or two knitted pieces," Talia answered, while taking a look at the room. "Mistress Aufidia thinks a girl shouldn’t learn any other craft, even if you’re a slave. My domina disagrees, but it’s not her house, so..." Talia shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I guess, if we finally move out of the house from Mistress Aufida, I will be allowed to try new things. I haven’t asked my domina yet. She is very annoyed because of the whole wedding thing and I don’t want to bother her."</p><p>"Well, if you want to try anything new while you're here, we've probably got the stuff for it. Um. I guess I should show you the other rooms up here, too, just in case you need to know where any of them are. It's mostly storage, which you won't need to know, but there's the sickroom, another ablutions area - with a bathtub, if you want to have a bath - and Willow's office."</p><p>"I will ask my mistress if I’m allowed to try something new," Talia answered while she followed Moss, her tone hopeful. "I would really like that. And Willow is your steward, right? Is he nice or strict like your master?"</p><p>Moss considered the question. "He has high standards, because the master does, but he’s easy to talk to if you’ve got a problem - he gives good advice if you need it, and if you’ve got a problem with a free person, he can usually help out. He won’t interfere with you because you’re here for your mistress, but he might ask you to do some small things once or twice. You probably won’t be on any of the rotas, so you won't have to worry about that."</p><p>"I wouldn’t mind helping," Talia assured him with a shy smile. "I don’t like sitting around and doing nothing and my mistress doesn’t need me to hand her everything. When she goes to work she always leaves me at home. And I know she will be working tomorrow at least."</p><p>"Oh! Well, I'm sure we can find you something to do - there's always something, after all. Even if it's just laundry." Moss returned her smile with one of his own.</p><p>Talia nodded. It didn’t seem like she would mind doing the laundry. "I like being useful. And I don’t have that many lessons scheduled that I don’t have time for anything else, when my mistress doesn’t need me." She looked around again and added quietly: "It’s really a nice house your master has." </p><p>"It is. When I first arrived, I was worried I wasn't going to find my way around, but it's not that hard when you realise it's got four different areas. You just have to remember your way around each of them, and if you're in the balnea, it will probably only be with your mistress. And if you really get lost, find one of the intercom panels - they were designed for slaves who can't read, and show the whole house plan." </p><p>He shrugged. "It's not really a proper intercom, because we can't talk over it, it's used for the master to call one of us."</p><p>Talia nodded again, to show she understood. "We have an intercom at home, but there is no house plan on it. Knowing this will help me, thank you." She let her gaze wander around more, the shy smile still on her lips. "I think, I can find my way - and you said it wouldn’t be a problem if I ask someone, so I will do that, if I don’t know where to go."</p><p>"There's an understanding, among us, that if there's a female slave staying here, she gets to use the upstairs ablutions. It might mean a bit of a walk, but at least you won't walk in on any of us. There are some folks who are used to sharing between sexes, but if you're not, it's here." Moss opened the door into the white-tiled communal bathroom. "There's a bath, if you want - only, don't take too long if you do use it. And I'll find you a couple of towels."</p><p>"I’m used to sharing the ablutions with male slaves," Talia muttered and blushed again. "You really don’t need to bother so much for me. Just tell me where I can get a towel and I see to it myself. You clearly have enough duties."</p><p>Moss crossed the hall to open the door of a small windowless room, and turned the light on. "This is the household linen store, sheets and blankets are here, and towels are here." He passed her a couple of towels. "If you stay here long enough that you need clean ones - or clean bedding, it’s here. Just put your dirty linen in the wash basket down in the utility room and they’ll get washed with the rest of our stuff."</p><p>The girl accepted the towels and glanced into the room, before nodding. "I’ll do that. Is there anything else I should know?" Her last words came out with a worried undertone and she bit her lower lip. </p><p>"Um." Moss turned the light back off and closed the door again. "Like I said, you don’t have to worry about Master - he won’t bother you, you’re Mistress Aurelia’s girl. If you end up missing any meals because your mistress keeps you busy, there’s soup and stuff in a cupboard by the door in the kitchen - anyone will show you."</p><p>"I never missed a meal while serving my mistress" Talia muttered and shuddered slightly. "That… happened before she owned me and she was furious about it. She ranted about how I’m still growing and stuff and that I should have proper nutrition all the time." She closed her mouth and looked suddenly concerned. "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t bother you with my past."</p><p>"I’m not very good at listening," Moss confessed. "But if you do want to talk… Ven’s good at it, or Icarus - the gardener. And, I know what it’s like, though in my case, he just didn’t think, and it didn’t happen very often. But Grumio’s good, he’s got some stuff that’s quick to heat up, or there’s always bread."</p><p>"That’s good to know. And… I…" Talia took a deep breath. "I talk to Cinna sometimes, when she has time. She is my domina's partner and best friend. She’s a liberta. But… maybe I will talk to Ven or Icarus. If they have time."</p><p>Moss considered. "It might be harder for Ven to find the time, but I’m sure he’ll have time over the Saturnalia season. And Icarus can talk while he works - he’ll tell you if he can’t, but gardening is one of those things that’s easy to do and talk at the same time."</p><p>"I’ll think about it. Thank you," the girl smiled and added after some moments with, of course, another blush: "You’re nice. Most adult slaves talk to me like I’m still a small child. You don’t."</p><p>Moss grinned. "You’re not a child - well, not a young one. You’re old enough to be your mistress’ body slave, after all, and that isn’t the sort of position anyone would give a child. And talking about your mistress, I suppose we should go and find her before she starts wondering where you are."</p><p>"Yes, we should." Talia agreed before she grinned for a short moment. "But I suspect she is far more occupied worrying about Cinna's arrival and her disapproving look. Which is a scary thing. And my mistress gets it every couple of months."</p><p>She closed her mouth and frowned. "I shouldn’t say that, should I?"</p><p>"I won’t tell anyone you said it - but no, it’s not usually a good idea to criticise your owner, or to say something that other people might think is."</p><p>The girl sighed, but nodded. "I understand. Hopefully, I’ll manage to avoid embarrassing my mistress like that. I probably should find her now, after I put these towels away."</p><p>"Just leave them on your bed for now, I think," Moss said, to which Talia only nodded again, before turning on her heels to do exactly what he suggested. It didn’t take her more than a moment before she stood before Moss again, expectantly looking up at him.</p><p>"Let’s get you back to your mistress, then. Do you know where she is?" Moss said, glancing at the clock on the wall.</p><p>"She said, she would be in the bibliotheca," the girl answered, looking slightly unsure. "I know you already showed me where it is, but could you show me again? I promise I will find my way alone by tomorrow."</p><p>"Of course I can. It's off the atrium, next to the guest room. Can you remember the way to the atrium from here?" He would show her anyway, of course, but if she could remember something already, it would be a start.</p><p>"I…" Talia started, but then swallowed and nodded. "Yes, I think so."</p><p>She turned in the direction of the stairs and after an unsure gaze over her shoulder, probably to make sure Moss was following her, started to go down. She stopped at the bottom and bit her lower lip in concentration before she seemed to remember and walked in the direction of the cage. She gave the thing a scowl and turned away from it, facing one of the doors leading out of the slave-quarters.</p><p>"If we go through here we’re back in the atrium," she said, though it nearly sounded like a question and a frown had appeared on her face.</p><p>"Yes," Moss said encouragingly. "Or very nearly, anyway." He pushed the door open. "You can go through this door here to the garden - your mistress' bedroom door is the one in the middle across from us, and then there's a door to the atrium there, or we can go this way, past the balnea. Though let's go past your mistress' room - we don't have to cross the atrium this way."</p><p>Talia confirmed his words with another nod of her head and followed him through the door into the garden, obviously trying not to turn her head in every direction to give the garden more than a quick look. She stopped before the bedroom door Moss had pointed out and glanced up at him, as she turned to look in the direction of the atrium.</p><p>"You can come out here when your mistress doesn't need you - and it's the quickest way between her room and our part of the house," Moss said, noticing her interest. "If you come into the atrium this way, don't forget to close the door behind you."</p><p>Facing them was a pair of glass doors, and Moss opened the right-hand one, letting her go in front of him. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "That's Master's bedroom on the left here, and the bibliotheca is two doors down, the last room on the left."</p><p>"I will remember that, thank you," Talia answered, her own voice barely above a whisper itself. "And thank you for showing me around. I better go to my domina now."</p><p>She gave Moss a last shy smile, before she lowered her gaze and walked up to the door of the bibliotheca, where she knocked. After some more moments she opened the door and slipped quietly into the room.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Translations:<br/>balnea - private bathhouse<br/>liberta - freedwoman, female ex-slave<br/>bibliotheca - library</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say Cinna was annoyed about Aurelia’s behaviour from time to time would be the understatement of the century. Her friend was normally sensible and planned ahead - or at least she was, while working. Why Aurelia never managed to show such thoughtfulness in her private life, Cinna never found out.</p><p>And the day had started so promisingly. Titus' father was back in Rome, staying with Titus' aunt (which took a lot of work from Cinna's own household, for which she was more than thankful) and offered to take both of his grandsons for the whole day. Lucius and Septimus had been overjoyed to spend the whole day with their grandfather - Cinna suspected it had something to do with escaping the watchful eyes of their nurse and mother for a whole day, though.</p><p>With the children out of the house Cinna, Inea (said nurse and trusted right hand) and Gracia (cook and the real boss in the house as soon as Cinna and Titus left the domus) finally had the time to prepare everything for the Saturnalia holidays.</p><p>Thankfully, decorations, gifts and food for the next few days were all organized as Cinna's phone chimed for the first time. It was from one of Titus' cousins, who was a Vigilis (and familiar with Auri too!) and who had been nearly overrun by the young patrician.</p><p>Cinna was sure he was exaggerating the whole situation but it was concerning that Aurelia didn’t recognise him and stopped to at least greet him with a short nod. Normally she wasn’t that oblivious to her surroundings. Unless she was angry.</p><p>Which led to Cinna taking a look at the pictures from some traffic cameras, which were nearly everywhere in the middle of the city. She hadn’t needed long to find Aurelia and even less to come to the conclusion that something was not right.</p><p>The next call came from a priest of Juno, who was a distant cousin of Appius and knew Cinna well enough. The poor woman worried she made a mistake by accepting the date for the (damn and three times cursed) wedding Helena Terentia had mailed her.</p><p>Hearing this Cinna could only groan inwardly, but at least she had known then what had angered Aurelia. And she could understand it, but that didn’t change the fact that it would be Cinna herself who would have to handle the whole problem in the end. Whatever it was this time.</p><p>She assured the priest everything was fine and had barely ended the call, when her phone chimed again. This time with Aurelia herself on the line.</p><p>Aurelia had not only left the house of her grandmother in a fit of rage, poor little Talia in tow, but also forgot… well, actually anything besides her ImpSec badge and Talia. Apparently Aurelia would spend her next days in the safety of Drusus Varius Metellus' home. No doubt a good decision to give everyone involved in this mess time to cool down a bit, but couldn’t Aurelia plan ahead at least once?!</p><p>Because if she had, Cinna wouldn’t have had to call Titus and tell him they needed to go to Aufidia Gracia’s house to collect Aurelia’s and Talia's things. And there would have been no need for Cinna to sit through one of the old woman's tantrums and no need for Titus to give the impression of the silent and menacing looking man, who was ready to defend his wife’s honour, should Aufida make any insulting remark. And poor Inea, who should have the afternoon and the evening off, since everything was prepared and the boys weren’t at home, wouldn’t have needed to go with them, to pack everything for little Talia at least.</p><p>But all this had happened (and Cinna still thought one day she should simply tell Aurelia no and enjoy her reaction), and ended with Cinna and Titus dressed for an informal dinner in one cycleshaw, and Inea and Levi (one of her own house slaves) in another one, together with enough clothes and other things so, Aurelia and Talia would survive the next few days without needing to set a foot in Aufidia’s home.</p><p>Only one thing Cinna carried herself: The Imperial Security approved laptop, which Aurelia locked into one of her desk drawers, at least. Apparently she had that much sense still.</p><p>The only one who acted sensible right now was the older Varius Metellus, Cinna was sure of it. He had enough sense to offer a dinner for all the trouble - Cinna doubted Aurelia would have thought of it by herself.</p><p>"Smile, woman. You look like you bit into a lemon," Titus mumbled with clear amusement in his voice as they stopped before the big house and stepped out on the sidewalk.</p><p>Cinna only gave him one of her looks, clearly not sharing his opinion regarding the humour of the whole situation, before glancing at Inea and Levi, who already shouldered the various bags and gave them both a nod, to confirm everything was fine. Cinna took a deep breath to calm herself down and finally rang the doorbell.</p><p>The door was opened by a slave who must have been in his sixties who fiddled with a hearing aid for a moment. "Mistress Cinna and Master Titus?"</p><p>"Yes," Cinna answered tersely before Titus had even the chance to open his mouth. "May we come in?"</p><p>Petrus opened the door and stood aside. "Of course - what names am I giving? Master Drusus doesn’t have a nomenclator." <i>And ought to get one, like I’ve been saying for years</i>, was implied by Petrus’ telling look as he let the two citizens and their laden slaves in.</p><p>A smile appeared on Cinna lips, brought forward by that implication. She always thought that owners should listen to their slaves from time to time and not the other way around.</p><p>Titus meanwhile gave the ostiarius their names. "Titia Livia Cinna and Titus Livius Cordus."</p><p>The atrium was lit with soft golden lighting, mostly highlighting the seating areas by the impluvium, though one spotlight lit the lararium in the corner. Drusus was sitting on a sofa, his slave Ven on a cushion on the floor beside him, and Aurelia was curled up daintily on another, with her own slave on a cushion.</p><p>Petrus let the two visitors in before announcing them and withdrawing, muttering, back to his cubbyhole.</p><p>Drusus got to his feet. "Welcome to my home, I wish it were under less… annoying circumstances."</p><p>"They could be better," Titus agreed, shooting Aurelia an amused look, who curled up a little bit more on the couch, eyes completely fixated on Cinna. "But also far worse. Thank you for the invitation."</p><p>Cinna nodded her agreement to these words, but gave Aurelia a disapproving look. Who finally seemed to remember her manners and got to her feet, but kept silent for now. Cinna allowed herself a very quick look at Talia, who signed her that everything was fine and Ven, who seemed to be well too. The liberta wondered for a short moment if the slave recognized her, but decided it didn't matter right now. Maybe she would get a chance to apologise to him one day.</p><p><i>But not right now</i>, she thought looking back at Drusus.</p><p>"It's a pleasure to meet you," she smiled.</p><p>"Likewise," Drusus said, offering his arm to Titus, and a kiss on each cheek to Cinna. "Please, have a seat - Junio will show your slaves where to put Aurelia’s things. Would you like a drink while we wait for dinner to be served?"</p><p>"A drink sounds like a good idea," Titus nodded, while taking a seat.</p><p>Cinna smiled before she trusted the satchel with the laptop in Aurelia’s arms. The younger woman frowned and looked worried after a moment.</p><p>"I thought I'd locked it in my desk…", Aurelia mumbled.</p><p>"You did," Cinna informed her, coolly. "But since you don’t plan to go back for the next few days it isn’t wise to leave it unsupervised. You are aware of the regulations, aren’t you?"</p><p>Aurelia sighed. "Any confidential material and devices that are owned by Imperial Security need to be returned to Imperial Security if they aren’t used for more than forty-eight hours."</p><p>"I’m glad you remember," Cinna said sweetly and with a hint of steel in her voice. Hopefully, Aurelia would remember it the next time she stormed out of her gran's house.</p><p>Considering the subdued look the younger woman gave her Cinna suspected she would. Aurelia sighed and vanished, probably (hopefully) to put the laptop away, and Cinna turned to Inea and Levi.</p><p>"Put the things away. Levi, you stay until we go home. Inea, you are dismissed as soon as you are done."</p><p>Both slaves bowed to her and followed another slave (Junio, Cinna presumed) to do as told. Cinna meanwhile took a seat right next to her husband, a pleasant smile back on her face.</p><p>The second waiting slave disappeared in response to a signal from his master, presumably to fetch the offered drinks.</p><p>"So you are my future daughter-in-law’s friends," Drusus said, settling back into his own seat. "I won’t ask how you know her. Does she always require rescuing from herself?" He unconsciously dropped his hand to comb his fingers through Ven’s hair as he spoke.</p><p>Cinna saw this with a certain amusement, but was reminded to behave by a gentle kick to her ankle, which hopefully went unnoticed.</p><p>"She only needs that much attention if Publius and their wedding are involved. So we can hope that nothing like this will happen in the next few months. But I wouldn’t count on it," she answered. "Normally she is more sensible."</p><p>"Publius too," Titus pointed out. "But it seems like both him and Aurelia try to evade a fight with their female relatives at any cost."</p><p>"Knowing Helena Terentia as I do - I was married to her for twenty years - that is not hard to understand," Drusus pointed out, as his slave returned bearing a tray with four glasses of wine. Moss offered the tray to his master first and then the guests, setting the fourth glass on the coffee table in front of the seat Aurelia had just left, before returning to his place by the wall.</p><p>"She has a quite unique attitude. As does Aufidia Gracia," Cinna agreed, taking a sip from the wine.</p><p>"Understatement of the century," Aurelia interjected, while coming back into the atrium and taking her seat again. "How angry was she?"</p><p>"She called you an ungrateful and spoiled brat," Titus informed her. "Afterwards she blamed your job for your behaviour. Oh, and she asked us to tell you that she won’t be in Rome for the holiday. But that could always change if you call her."</p><p>Which was a nice description for the attempt of emotional blackmailing, but neither Cinna nor Titus needed to point that out. Aurelia only scrunched her nose up without commenting on the last part. Instead she also took a sip from her glass.</p><p>"Why do I get the impression you’d far rather she wasn’t in Rome for the holiday, and you have no intention of phoning her?" Drusus asked dryly, and a mouthful of his own wine. "At least Helena is unlikely to travel to Rome to bother you."</p><p>Ven developed a sudden interest in the tiling by his cushion at that last sentence, in an effort to control his expression. Cinna lifted inwardly an eyebrow as she saw that, but knew she couldn’t ask about it. And if she was honest she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know what Helena Terentia did to the poor boy.</p><p>Aurelia meanwhile only grumbled, curling up on her seat again.</p><p>"I will phone my grandmother, but if I have the choice to spend the whole holiday here, in relative peace, with Publius, or with nagging and my gran, I think it’s obvious what I will do."</p><p>Cinna and Titus only shared a very meaningful look. Hopefully this call wouldn’t break even more things between Aurelia and her gran.</p><p>"Please, try at least to be friendly, so that I don’t get an angry phone call from your grandmother during Saturnalia, will you?" Cinna sighed.</p><p>"I can try," Aurelia answered after a moment, but with visible reluctance. "Could you stop treating me like a child?"</p><p>"Then stop acting like one," Titus interjected with a sigh, before Cinna could answer. "Currently my lovely wife spends more time keeping you out of trouble than our sons. And they are under ten."</p><p>Aurelia didn't answer, but she seemed now more subdued than before.</p><p>"Well, no harm done. So what have you and Publius managed to get around to planning, then?" Drusus asked. "And what, if any, help would you like with things?"</p><p><i>Oh, Juno</i>, Cinna thought and watched with a certain amusement how her friend sat up a little bit straighter and frowned.</p><p>"Well, I managed to buy a house, which needs work," Aurelia started and sighed. "A lot of work, which means I need to hire builders and painters, and such. Which means I have to look over a lot of contracts before any human being can live there. I could need help with the last part or otherwise I probably pay them far too much for the remodel."</p><p><i>Probably wise to ask for help in this</i>, Cinna agreed in her mind, though Aurelia made it sound like the house she bought was collapsing any second. Which wasn’t true. It just hadn’t been used in the last few years and had been owned by an old lady, who refused to live there but also refused to sell it. And it hadn’t been remodelled in the last twenty years. Besides that it was a good house - big, clean and with a classical ground plan.</p><p>And besides that it wasn’t like money was any issue for either Aurelia nor Publius.</p><p>"I have several workmen among my clients, and no doubt some of them will be pleased to carry out work for you - and I can help you go through the contracts and other paperwork during your stay, or at another time. Whereabouts is this house?"</p><p>"On the Viminal. Roughly a ten minutes walk from the Thermae Diocletiani," Aurelia answered, this time with a small smile on her lips. "And I will be grateful for any help. But speaking of help…" She looked down at Talia. "Do you have your tabula with you?"</p><p>"Yes, mistress," the girl answered immediately, handing her owner the device, which Aurelia rewarded with a smile, before she concentrated on the screen in front of her.</p><p>Cinna watched the girl for a short moment and looked for any minor sign that she was scared or stressed, but she couldn’t find anything. Which was good. Being in a new place, even if you trusted and liked your owner, was always scary for any slave, but Talia seemed to manage. A quick look to the side revealed that Titus had watched the girl for a short moment too, but was now concentrating on Aurelia again.</p><p>Ven had noticed the couple watching Talia - he was glad that Mistress Aurelia had mentioned that her friend had approached him because he did recognise her but probably wouldn’t have been able to say where from, and would have drawn too much attention when he did realise where he knew her from. The knowledge didn’t make him any more friendly towards the Emperor’s Valentine, though he could concede it was nice to have someone looking out for him, even if he hadn’t known it back then.</p><p>He’d had the distinct impression Val wanted Ven to like him, but he’d gone about things all wrong. And to have Mistress Aurelia mixed up in it all, somehow - the world was a weird place, sometimes.</p><p>He caught Talia’s eye and gave a tiny gesture, meaning reassurance, that it was OK. Knowing what he knew now about Mistress Aurelia’s friend, he was fairly sure she’d seen it, too, but that couldn’t be helped. Talia thanked him with a tiny gesture of her own.</p><p>"Not too far from here, then," Drusus said, thoughtfully.</p><p>Aurelia nodded, while scrolling through the notes she had opened right now. "No, but like I said, the house needs work. Nobody had lived there for at least five years and the woman who owned it only made sure it was cleaned once every few weeks. Now, to answer your other question, thanks to Cinna, we have a caterer, but I would be very glad if I could borrow some of your slaves for serving that evening. And we have a rough guest-list so far, but it seems to change every week. Publius insisted that he didn’t want to see his uncle and his other cousins on this day after they cut all ties to Licinus, which I can understand."</p><p>"I’m glad to hear my son is as sensible as ever." He had never really understood Menenius Lanatus and his obsession with the ‘good old days’ which were nothing of the sort. He privately thought that Menenius was trying to be a Lucius Junius Brutus for today’s Rome, but had very much missed the mark. Hearing about Paulla Terentia’s very public decree of divorce was a bright spot in an otherwise grim story - he would have offered to take Licinus himself had the boy not been tangled up in the whole mess and therefore been sold. But he’d learned of Licinus’ involvement too late - everything had already been arranged and set in motion by then.</p><p>"I suppose it’s old news to you that Licinus ended up with Potitus Catilina, the garum magnate," he said instead, sipping his wine. "Licinus is my nephew," he added, for the benefit of Cinna and her husband (who were equally aware, no doubt, of the relationship and the whole story of his involvement on that fateful evening).</p><p>"We are aware," Titus answered with a neutral expression. "Sadly, we are aware of the whole ugly story."</p><p>"Half of Rome is aware," Cinna muttered and took a sip from her wine. "Thankfully we managed to catch most videos from the night of the arrests, before they were uploaded on VosTubum and various social network sites."</p><p>"Don’t remind me," Aurelia groaned. "One week of my life I’ll never get back."</p><p><i>Neither will I</i>, Cinna thought. She was pretty sure she never drank so much coffee before. Or cursed that loudly about social media.</p><p>"So, you have a rough guest list. I presume it is somewhat smaller than the several hundred people Helena Terentia and your grandmother had planned to invite?"</p><p>Aurelia looked shocked for a moment but shook her head shortly after. "Minerva may strike me down, if it ever comes to this," she muttered. "No, currently we have less than twenty guests for the vows in my grandmother's house and around thirty people for the cena in our new home. Attending slaves not counted, of course. I assume you would have Ven with you?"</p><p>"It’s purely a social party, not a networking event, I could dispense with him for one evening - unless you particularly want me to bring him for some reason? Or he’s needed to help serve - although with thirty or so people for cena, that will be no more than six or seven slaves to serve, depending on whether you are having a buffet or the full dining experience."</p><p>"Buffet. If I change that I’m probably not marrying at all, because Cinna here will murder me because she will have to ask her…" Aurelia stopped mid sentence, apparently searching for the right words and Cinna rolled her eyes.</p><p>"...because I have to ask my former master for another favour," she finished the sentence.</p><p>"Which you wouldn’t do," Titus added.</p><p>"No," Cinna agreed with a pleasant smile, before she gave Aurelia a stern look. "Any changes made you can tell Appius yourself. I gave you his phone number. Use it."</p><p>Aurelia looked like she wanted to pout, but she seemed to think better of it and settled for a slight frown.</p><p>"You know Senator Granius better than me," she muttered.</p><p>"It’s your wedding," Titus pointed out and the young patrician sighed in defeat.</p><p>"All right, that’s about six slaves to bring the food in and serve it to your guests, who should be quite capable of holding their own plates. Willow, Junio, Moss, Chrestus, Ven…"</p><p>Junio had moved from his place by the wall to approach his master. Given a momentary opportunity, he bent to speak quietly and briefly to his master.</p><p>"Ah. Dinner is ready - if you will come this way," Drusus said. "Your slaves can eat with my staff; Ven will show them where to go."</p><p>Drusus led them to the winter triclinium, Junio going ahead to open the doors, while Ven and the other slaves followed them, diverting into the slave quarters rather than through the garden to the dining room.</p><p>Talia saw Inea nodding in Cinna's and Titus' direction, before she left the house, while Levi joined the other slaves.</p><p>"All done?" the girl asked quietly and Levi nodded.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Translations:<br/>domus: town house<br/>Vigilis: member of the Vigiles, Rome's emergency services<br/>nomenclator: announcer, slave who announced the names of guests as they arrived<br/>ostiarius: doorkeeper, the slave whose job it was to answer the door<br/>impluvium: shallow pool in the centre of a Roman atrium<br/>lararium: private household shrine, usually located in the atrium or the kitchen<br/>Viminal: One of the traditional seven hills Rome was built on<br/>garum: favourite Roman condiment, a fish sauce<br/>VosTubum: YouTube<br/>cena: dinner<br/>triclinium: dining room (named for the three couches in a traditional Roman dining room)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The dining room was already bustling as Ven led his master’s guests’ slaves in. Moss and Junio would serve the master and his guests, and eat later, but the rest of the household ate now. It took a few moments but eventually Ven found himself seated at a table with Talia and the male slave who had accompanied Mistress Aurelia’s friends, who introduced himself as Levi.</p><p>Levi gave Ven a friendly smile, while Talia blushed every time someone addressed her directly. Cinna's house-slave seemed to be more amused than worried about it and stroked the girl’s back in reassurance.</p><p>"I nearly expected to stand around all evening and only get something to eat once I’m back home," Levi muttered while looking around. "Though Inea and I already got a lot of apologies from our mistress for dragging us into this mess. Especially poor Inea. It isn’t often that she gets a day off."</p><p>"Oh, Levi, I’m sorry," Talia groaned, but she only got a pat on her head.</p><p>"Don’t worry. My mistress asked for volunteers and Inea and I spoke up. We decided to help willingly," Levi assured her before he looked at Ven with another smile. "I think I saw your image in a file my mistress worked on, some months ago - I hope she hadn’t caused you trouble?"</p><p>Ven let out a silent sigh. Cinna had mentioned speaking to him, and the Emperor’s Valentine had mentioned getting someone to check up on him. He just didn't remember the specific conversation because he'd had so many covering very similar topics and questions. "No, she didn't. I don't think my master even knew about it till she said - well, till Mistress Aurelia said."</p><p>Levi blinked and muttered: "That explains why my mistress cursed so loudly today. She probably never intended to actually meet your master in person. Or at least not like this." </p><p>Ven tore a chunk of bread from the loaf that was passed to him before passing the rest of the loaf on. "She’d’ve had to meet my master eventually, seeing as she’s friends with the lady who’s going to marry his son. And it’s not like I can remember the actual conversation; there’ve been a lot of people asking all sorts of questions. You know how nosy some folks can be, after all."</p><p>"I do," Levi answered, taking some of the bread before he handed it to Talia. "You have no idea what people try to ask my mistress as soon as they realise she’s a member of Imperial Security. One even tried to approach the two young masters - luckily, Inea is a very good nurse, who takes her task of keeping the boys safe very seriously."</p><p>"At least Inea is allowed to act against such people - I can only try to run to my mistress if somebody bothers me," Talia mumbled, looking suddenly rather unhappy. "What do you tell free people, who don’t leave you alone and ask questions you can’t answer?"</p><p>"What sort of questions?" Ven asked, accepting a bowl of soup and putting it in front of Talia before taking one for himself.</p><p>The girl frowned and thought about her answer for a while. "What she does, when she’s working. What she knows about the Imperial family. What she tells me about the rumours from the Imperial household. And a lot of people asking me what she does against sexual frustration since her betrothed is far away from Rome. Who wants to know such things?"</p><p>"Well, people asking about the Imperial family can’t be up to any good. I’d say the best thing would be not to say anything, but we know that’s not always possible. I’d probably just say I didn’t know, and keep on repeating that." He glanced across at Levi; how did people know she was Aurelia’s slave, anyway? Most people didn’t pay any attention to slaves, after all.</p><p>"That's good advice," Levi agreed. "Just don’t ignore them. Free people get weird if they think a slave is disrespecting them in any way."</p><p>"I never ignore free people" Talia answered, sounding shocked that anyone could think she would do something insanely stupid like this. "And luckily most people ignore me."</p><p>Ven patted her hand. "Nobody suggested that you do ignore free people."</p><p>Talia blinked, mumbled a short: "Thank you." and blushed fiercely. Levi grinned as he saw this but didn’t comment on the girl's reaction.</p><p>Instead he looked at Ven obviously trying to find another topic that wouldn’t make Talia or anybody else uncomfortable again.</p><p>"So, um, does either of you have any plans for Saturnalia?" Ven asked, trying to find something to ask that would lead into a more natural conversation.</p><p>Talia shook her head immediately, before she frowned and shrugged. Levi glanced at her in sheer amusement.</p><p>"Normally, I visit my brother for one or two days." Levi answered after he chewed and swallowed a piece from the bread in his hand. "He’s already freed and lives on the outskirts of the city now. On the other days I just need to survive one family gathering of my masters closest relatives from his fathers side, one with my mistress’ Senator-friend and one day with a lot of very young and very loud kids, because somehow my mistress managed to give birth to her youngest on the last day of Saturnalia."</p><p>"Well, that was badly organised! Of all the days - I hope you do get some time to yourself, though, especially with a young kid celebrating a birthday too."</p><p>"Oh, don't worry. The good thing is my mistress knows that we need some free time. Normally she cooks on at least three of the seven days and has everything organized before Saturnalia even starts. Gracia, our cook, helps her with that. So long everyone stays out if their ways everything is fine. What about you?"</p><p>"I don’t actually know," Ven admitted, once he’d swallowed his mouthful. "This is my first Saturnalia since I became his - secretary." He’d been about to say ‘concubīnus’ but thought better of it, considering Talia’s age. "Though from what I remember last year, everyone got the holiday off, and Master cooks some of the meals - with a bit of help, though he’s not bad at it. Mostly he keeps out of the way and we get the run of the house, though I wouldn’t be surprised if things are a bit different this year."</p><p>"Mistress and Master Publius probably won’t be here on the seventh day. I think Cinna invited them?" Talia spoke up and Levi nodded.</p><p>"Yes. Young Master Septimus would be very disappointed if they don’t show up - he’d known them since birth. As far as a nearly three year old child can remember people." Levi agreed. "And I assume Aure… the lady won't be much trouble for the rest of the time." </p><p>"I don't know her all that well, but she's probably been as much trouble today as she'll ever be," Ven said with a smile.</p><p>"She isn’t that bad," Talia assured him. "Just a little bit stressed right now. The whole wedding planning is a little bit too much for her, I think. And it would be easier if Master Publius' mother and Mistress Aufidia wouldn’t try to interfere the whole time."</p><p>Ven did not have the best memories of the one time he’d met the master’s ex-wife - Master Publius’ mother - and he couldn’t honestly say that he’d ever met Mistress Aufidia, so all he could do was nod sympathetically. "Well, I think they’re less likely to interfere now - or at least, your mistress and Master Publius will have help dealing with them, and Master Drusus isn’t exactly a pushover."</p><p>"I’m glad to hear that but I think your Master only needs to handle his ex-wife. My mistress and Mistress Aufida had a contest in glaring at each other today and I assure you this isn't over," Levi answered and sighed. "Like Mistress Cinna didn't have enough to do already. But if anybody tells her this she always answers that she won't be lazy only because she's free now."</p><p><i>Because she's free now…</i> So Mistress Aurelia's friend used to be a slave. Ven tucked that information away to think about later, along with the fact he'd apparently met her once before somewhere. </p><p>Meanwhile, Talia frowned. "Isn't the reason why free people have slaves that they have less work?"</p><p>"That's what everyone says," Levi nodded with a grin. "But it seems my mistress delegates work so she can load even more on her shoulders."</p><p>"Not a problem any of us can solve," Ven pointed out. "Though perhaps she should be encouraged to think about a holiday - especially as it's Saturnalia."</p><p>"Certainly a good idea," Levi agreed. "I'm just unsure if Master can convince her - he probably needs to gang up on her with Mistress Cinna's first owner. She's a very strong-willed woman."</p><p>"Lots of free women are," Ven said. "I daresay your mistress is, too," he added, looking at Talia.</p><p>The girl sighed and nodded. "She is, unless it’s about her wedding. It’s like she can’t really decide if she wants that big party or not. And Ufa told me, she and Master Publius thought about eloping. Which they didn't do for some reason. But my mistress is kind to me and others, and looks out for them. So, despite the chaos she sometimes causes, I won't complain."</p><p>Ven couldn’t help a short laugh at that; his first impression of Mistress Aurelia had been of a woman who somehow spilled chaos everywhere she went, although to be fair, she worked for Imperial Security and was probably a lot more organised than she seemed.</p><p>"You want to eat up, you’ll be wanted before you know it," Willow said, looking over at the small group, prompting the end of the conversation so they could concentrate on their food.</p><p>Talia immediately did as told, while Levi gave the steward a nod to show that he understood. They continued their meal silently and the girl wondered if Willow was right with his assumption that they would be called soon to serve their respective masters and mistresses.</p><p>As it turned out Willow wasn’t wrong - Cinna and Master Titus sent for Levi not even an hour later and left shortly after, while Aurelia announced she would go to bed early. Which ultimately meant Talia would go to sleep early, too - the young slave didn’t mind it that much.</p><p>Aurelia needed to go to work the next day, which meant she would rise before six and Talia was expected to be fully awake before her mistress even opened her eyes, so she was thankful for any extra sleep she could get.</p><p>Now, though, she was very much occupied with Aurelia’s long and slightly curly hair, that needed to be combed and braided every evening or Talia’s owner would wake up with a lot of tangles in her hair - which wouldn’t be fun for Aurelia and surely not for her maid.</p><p>"Did you have time to look through the things Cinna brought? Is everything in the bags what we will need?" Aurelia asked while sitting before a mirror, looking at Talia in the reflection.</p><p>"I think so, Mistress. Cinna even brought me my plush toy," the girl answered and smiled as she said the last words.</p><p>The toy was a big (and slightly battered) bunny, which had been a gift from Cinna’s oldest son. When Lucius heard that Talia never possessed a plush toy in her whole life, he gifted her one of his, because apparently at six he was too old for such things anyway.</p><p>Talia didn’t think that was true, but Aurelia allowed her to accept the gift and she was more than happy to do so. Now the bunny was always sitting on her bed and Talia was thankful that Cinna had been thoughtful enough to bring it with her.</p><p>"I’m glad to hear that," Aurelia answered, looking critically at one strand of hair, before giving her young maid another smile. "What do you think of the house?"</p><p>"It’s big, but I was shown around. And everyone is nice to me." Talia answered and got a satisfied nod for it.</p><p>"If that changes, tell me. We all want a pleasant holiday, after all."</p><p>Talia nodded and continued with her work. From what she had seen she assumed that the next few days would be probably calmer than today.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Things remained calm for about a day and a half. The actual festive days hadn’t started yet - they wouldn’t start properly before tomorrow - so Moss was at his usual front-of-house station in the atrium when the next disruption happened. Although ‘arrived’ would probably be the best description.</p><p>Petrus shuffled out of his cubby to open the front door and stood back as a young lady of about Moss’ own age entered. Erupted in was probably a more accurate way of putting it.</p><p>The young lady in question had the master’s dark hair and blue eyes and was wearing a tunic a few inches longer than Moss’ own, in that it came to just below her knees. Her legs (very nice legs too!) were bare. The slave-girl following her, towing a suitcase, was a similar age, maybe a year or so younger, and far more demure, her dark skin and the tight braids of her hair proclaiming her Egyptian heritage. The honey yellow of her own calf-length tunic looked very well-chosen to suit her colouring.</p><p>"Morning, Petrus. Pater not home? Oh, hello, Willow." Willow had just entered the atrium and was greeted with a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. </p><p>"Your father’s out for the morning, he will be back for prandium, Miss. Your old room’s ready for you."</p><p>She waved a hand in acknowledgement. "Ankhes, you can take my bags to my room. Oh, hello - you’re new."</p><p>Moss’ eyes widened a little as she noticed him.</p><p>"Ah, yes, Miss... " </p><p>Willow intervened. "This is Moss, the new house slave. Moss, this is Drusilla Varia, the master’s daughter."</p><p>"I suppose I’d better go freshen up, the flight was simply <i>dreadful</i>. I’ll see Pater when he gets in, I guess." She turned to follow her slave-girl in the direction of her own room, leaving Moss feeling breathless - had she paused to breathe at all since entering the house?</p><p>The young miss vanished from the atrium and the next everyone heard was a delighted squeal followed by a fearful squeaking.</p><p>Moss’ eyes met Willow’s before the senior slave turned to head, at a run, to see what on earth had happened. He could guess some of it - the squeal had been in the newcomer’s voice and the squeak sounded like Talia.</p><p>"Is everything all right?" Willow asked as he came out into the garden.</p><p>Talia blushed and managed a weak nod, her eyes glued to the tiles under her feet, while she clutched some neatly folded clothes in her arms but didn't give a verbal answer. She seemed a little bit shaken by the presence of the young woman standing in front of her.</p><p>"This is your brother’s fiancee’s girl, Talia," Willow said, giving Talia an encouraging smile. "Talia, this is Mistress Drusilla, who’s Master Publius’ sister. She’s just home for the holidays."</p><p>Drusilla nodded. "I suppose it was too much to hope that Pater had finally got another female in the house. Didn’t mean to startle you." She turned to head to her own room, allowing Willow to let out a long breath.</p><p>"I'm sorry," Talia whispered. "I saw her and stopped, so I wouldn't be in her way if she wanted to go past me, but didn't expect that squeal."</p><p>Willow patted her on the shoulder. "It’s all right, she’s excitable sometimes. Are you all right?"</p><p>"Yes. Thank you," Talia nodded after a moment. "But I should iron these clothes now."</p><p><i>Again</i>, was left unsaid. Apparently, the young slave had been on her way to put the freshly washed clothes she carried in her mistress' room.</p><p>Willow nodded. "All right. Hopefully they’re not too badly creased, anyway. Do you know when your mistress will be back?"</p><p>"After prandium," the girl answered immediately. "She said if she's done with her work on time she'll collect Master Publius and Ufa from the airport."</p><p>"Oh, thank Mercury for that!" Willow let out a breath. "Just be prepared for the next week to be chaos over and above being Saturnalia, though, I think."</p><p>"I’m sure Ufa will help with whatever is needed - and I’ll help too, of course," Talia answered giving the steward a look of compassion.</p><p>Whatever chaotic situation would suddenly befall this household, Willow would be the first who had to deal with it regardless if he wanted or not.</p><p>"I should really see to these clothes - if you don’t need my help right now…" the girl said after some moments, clearly unsure if she could go or not.</p><p>"Of course you can. And if you’ve got any problems - with anyone - let me know, all right?" Willow might be a slave, but he would do what he could to make the next few days as easy for everyone as he could.</p><p>Talia gave him a grateful smile. "So far everyone is really nice - and I tried to stay out of Master Drusus' way, so I won’t get in trouble with him. But if I have a problem I tell you," she promised before turning on her heels and going back into the direction she came from.</p><p>While walking to the utility room the young slave wondered why Mistress Drusilla wore such a short tunic but decided after a moment it wasn’t her business. Maybe it was fashionable for young freeborn women to dress like that - Talia knew her own mistress was rather old-fashioned than it came to the length of a woman’s clothing.</p><p>It was maybe an hour later when the master returned home from work. His daughter had taken up residence in the atrium, reclining on a couch and watching the latest episode of <i>Imperial Earth</i>, which was promptly forgotten as her father entered the house, Ven following the usual three paces behind. </p><p>Drusilla jumped up, the TV forgotten and threw her arms around her father in an enthusiastic hug.</p><p>"Pater! It’s good to be home - I’ve missed you, and Publius is going to be arriving soon, and I haven’t met Aurelia yet, but her girl is just the cutest young thing. Hi, you must be Ven."</p><p>Ven gave his owner an uncertain look but received no direction either way. "Hello, Miss."</p><p>"Drusilla. It’s good to see you - but what in Juno’s name are you wearing? You might at least have worn braccae under that!"</p><p>"Ven’s tunic’s shorter, and the boyfriend tunic is all the rage these days - don’t give me that disapproving look, Māter wouldn’t mind it."</p><p>"Your mother isn’t here and Ven is a slave."</p><p>"If you’re going to be like that…!" She shrugged and resumed her seat, sitting up this time and tucking her feet up on the sofa. "I won’t wear it tomorrow, I do have other things, you know."</p><p>"I’m very glad to hear it." Drusus had lifted his arms, the signal for Ven to move forward and unpin his pallium, draping the garment over his arm and turning to head to the master’s room as Drusus took a seat across from his daughter while Moss came forwards to unlace the master’s outdoor shoes, replacing them with the light indoor soleae.</p><p>It wasn’t even an hour later when the front door was opened again. Unsurprisingly Talia was suddenly in the atrium ready to help with whatever was needed, as soon as Aurelia stepped into the house followed by Publius, who either didn’t have time to change out of his military fatigues or didn’t see a reason to do so. Right behind him Ufa dragged a large suitcase in.</p><p>"Pater! It’s good to see you. And Dru... what in Hades' name are you wearing?"</p><p>It was obvious Publius was confused by the short tunic his sister called clothes. Aurelia exchanged a short glance with Talia, who only shook her head as she took her owner's palla. The girl vanished with Ufa and Publius' luggage after Aurelia gave her a subtle sign.</p><p>Drusilla gave a theatrical groan and rolled her eyes. "<i>Not</i> you, too! It’s called <i>fashion</i>, you might look it up." She had got up to give her brother a hug and a kiss before turning to the lady accompanying him. "So you’re Aurelia? I’m Drusilla - you can call me Dru, everyone else does."</p><p>Aurelia gave her another smile and greeted her future sister-in-law with a kiss on each cheek, for which Drusilla had to lean down a bit.</p><p>"In that case you can call me Auri. It’s lovely to finally meet you - And I think I saw these tunics on a fashion show in summer. It suits you well."</p><p>"Auri, please, stop encouraging her," Publius sighed as he hugged Drusus and sat down on one of the couches.</p><p>"We’re going to be sisters, we have to stick together," Drusilla informed him, not quite putting her tongue out, but looking decidedly close to it.</p><p>"That’s what I’m afraid of," Publius muttered, before eyeing the short tunic again and then glancing back to Aurelia's ankle length tunic. "Please tell me you did at least <i>think</i> of bringing some braccae with you."</p><p>Drusilla grinned. "Oh, I thought about it."</p><p>She stopped there, looking impish.</p><p>Publius said nothing, just looked at her, drumming his fingers on the arm of his seat.</p><p>"What, you wanted me to actually <i>pack</i> some?"</p><p>"Well, maybe not you personally, but Ankhes strikes me as being sensible enough to include some in your luggage."</p><p>"Oh, you are a spoilsport, Publius. You just don’t want to admit that I’ve got the legs for it."</p><p>Drusus intervened. "All right, that’s quite enough. How long are you on leave for, Publius?"</p><p>"I have to report back on December 26, 16:00. So from now on I have nine full days to do whatever needs to be done or what I want to do."</p><p>"Septimus' birthday, you should take a look at the house and…" Aurelia immediately interjected, as she sat down next to him and Publius sighed heavily.</p><p>"Make that maybe two days where I can do what I want because my lovely fiancée already made a schedule," he groaned and Aurelia smiled sweetly at him.</p><p>Ven, on his cushion by his master’s side, surreptitiously eased his back. The next few days were going to be… <i>interesting</i>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Translations:<br/>prandium: lunch<br/>braccae: trousers<br/>Pater: father<br/>Māter: mother<br/>soleae: (pl; s. <i>solea</i>) light indoor shoes or slippers<br/>palla: palla, a lady's wrap, the equivalent of a pallium</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Talia watched the other female slave, Ankhes, out of the corner of her eyes while preparing for going to bed. The older girl was pretty and dressed different from anything Talia had ever seen, with that shawl artfully wrapped around her hips. The twelve-year old wondered if she would be allowed to dress similarly when she was a little bit older - after all Master Publius only complained about his sister's attire but didn’t say anything negative about Ankhes’ choice of clothes.</p><p>If it was her choice. It was very possible that Mistress Drusilla required her own slave to dress like that. Aurelia seemed to think that her future sister-in-law and Ankhes made a very fashionable choice. And maybe it was.</p><p>Talia had no real idea what counted as fashionable. Her own mistress preferred tunics that nearly reached the floor - at least Talia had never been ordered to dress Aurelia in anything else for the last two and a half years.</p><p>The young slave sighed silently and changed in a plain looking sleep tunic, the hem of it just reaching her knees, before she began the tedious task of combing and braiding her long hair for the night.</p><p>Ankhes efficiently changed from her daywear into a cotton sleep tunic that came to her calves and pulled a small make-up bag from her own travel suitcase. She had wiped the kohl from her eyes when she grew aware of being watched and turned to smile at the young girl she had learned was Mistress Aurelia’s body slave. She seemed to be having some trouble plaiting her hair and Ankhes set down her mirror.</p><p>"Would you like some help with that?" she asked, the Latin accented though not unpleasantly so.</p><p>Talia blushed first, since she hadn’t expected that the older girl would notice her struggle but after a moment of thinking she nodded.</p><p>"Uhm… yes, please," she answered shyly.</p><p>"Do you have a hairbrush?" </p><p>Talia nodded again and handed Ankhes the hairbrush without hesitation, before she sat on her bed leaving enough space so the other girl could sit down too.</p><p>"You have nice hair," Ankhes said, taking the offered seat and beginning to brush the younger girl’s hair, starting at the ends to detangle any knots in it. "How do you usually wear it during the day?"</p><p>"Either in a bun or in a plait - nothing fancy. I must be quick in the morning and don’t have much time for it. Only on holidays I’m allowed to weave ribbons into it. And if my mistress takes me to a party, but that happened only once before," Talia answered and  tried to look over shoulder without moving her head too much but quickly realised it was impossible.  "You have very nice hair too. And your tunics… I mean the shawls you’re wearing. They are pretty."</p><p>"Thank you. The shawls are an easy way to make a tunic look different - it’s two looks with one tunic, really, with a shawl and without one, and they help keep the tunics a bit cleaner." She reached for her mirror and passed it to Talia. </p><p>"I didn’t know you could wear a shawl like that. None of the other female slaves I ever saw do," Talia admitted as she took the mirror, scrunching up her nose a little bit as she saw herself.</p><p>It was obvious that she wasn’t very impressed with her reflection.</p><p>"There are plenty who do, though, at least that I’ve seen," Ankes said, moving to a different section of hair. "Have you ever tried a rope braid - your hair is long enough."</p><p>"Not that I can remember, no," Talia answered and shook her head slightly. "Do you know how? Maybe I could do that tomorrow since it’s the first day of Saturnalia."</p><p>"It’s very easy to do but looks like you’ve taken a lot of time. Just divide the hair into two sections rather than three and twist them both, then twist the two sections around each other in the opposite direction and tie the ends off. I’ll show you." Ankhes reached for her make-up bag and pulled a comb out to make it easier to part Talia’s hair.</p><p>The girl sat up straighter and held the mirror up so she could watch what Ankhes was doing.</p><p>"That sounds rather easy. And it doesn’t look very complicated," she admitted after a while.</p><p>"It looks a lot more complicated than it is - everybody does a three-strand plait, after all. There are a lot of hairstyles that are quick but very effective and pretty. If your mistress lets you watch VosTubum, there are a lot of different tutorials there for things you can try. Or Ave! serve has different hairstyles sometimes."</p><p>"I saw one or two in <i>Ave! </i>, but the older slaves always read in them so I don’t have much chance to get my hands on most issues. And for VosTubum I have to ask my mistress but I think she will allow me to watch such videos - apparently I’m too young for some other stuff. Whatever this means. Mistress herself prefers the most uncomplicated hairstyles. So long her hair doesn’t fall in her eyes she’s happy. Except of course when she wants to go out. When she always wants something with curls and braids and these pretty hair pins she has."</p><p>These styles were rather complicated to create and Talia had needed months to learn properly how to do it - she was just glad that Aurelia didn’t like some of the styles that had been in fashion for hundreds of years.</p><p>"Maybe you can read it when they’ve finished, or have a look through some older issues? Most slaves I know keep them to look through later." Ankhes shrugged and reached for a hair-tie. "There. That’s much quicker than mine." She swung her own tight thin braids over her shoulder to show what she meant.</p><p>"Oh, thank you," Talia smiled, giving her hair a pleased look as she glanced at it in the mirror, as much as she could before eyeing Ankhes’ braids with consideration. "How long do you need to get your hair plaited like that? You don’t do this every day, right?"</p><p>"No, I don’t do it every day. It takes a few hours, so I mostly do it while my mistress is in lectures, and it stays in for, well, quite a long time - I can wash it like this, though it’s not as good as washing it while it’s loose. And - if you want to see what one of my shawls would look like over your tunic, you’re welcome to borrow one while I’m here."</p><p>"Maybe tomorrow?" Talia answered with another smile but frowned quickly afterwards. "I want to ask my mistress first, though. I don’t want to try something new - if I like the look and she doesn’t, it would be disappointing."</p><p>"Of course. I think we’re going to get the whole day to ourselves tomorrow - is there anything you really want to do?"</p><p>Talia had to think a little bit about an answer. Even after minutes she couldn’t come up with a good answer. Normally when she had free time she would read a book. Last Saturnalia she had been allowed to watch cartoons - not for the whole seven days but for several hours and that alone had been a total novelty for her. But was there something she wanted to do this year?</p><p>"I… actually I’m not sure," Talia finally answered and shrugged a little helplessly. "The last two years I stayed with my mistress - and we didn’t really plan to be here for the whole holiday so…I guess I see what I get as a gift and then occupy myself with it."</p><p>"Well, we could go to the baths tomorrow, or perhaps the day after - they’re free for the week. I don’t really know what Saturnalia’s going to be like in this house with your mistress and Master Publius' home; he’s been away for the last year or so. I don’t really have people to go and visit or anything but I’d like to get out at least once."</p><p>"Uhm - he was in Rome three months ago. But he just visited Mistress and Ci… Mistress Cinna," Talia answered, before frowning. "Mistress wants Master Publius to take a look at the house she bought - and on the seventh day of Saturnalia they’re invited to Cin… Mistress Cinna’s son's birthday. I’m not sure if my mistress requires my service, but I want to go with her to this birthday-party at least. So yes, maybe we could go to the baths tomorrow - or on another day. I’m sure my mistress wouldn’t say anything so long she knows where I’m going. And with whom."</p><p>"I don’t think my mistress really has any plans, I’m pretty much going to have the week to myself except for doing her hair in the morning." Ankhes smiled and flopped back on her bed, arms spread. "I’ve been looking forward to Saturnalia for months - not that looking after my mistress is exactly hard."</p><p>"She doesn’t chase you around to fulfil her extra wishes all day long?" Talia asked, curiosity evident in her voice as she lay down herself, pulling the covers over her body and hugging the big plush bunny that had been sitting on her bed close to her.</p><p>Ankhes had to get up to turn the light off before sliding under the covers of her own bed. "Yes, and no - she spends a lot of  her time studying and working on her project, so I might end up going on errands for her, but that’s not the same thing as running around after her all day. I do get time to myself, but it’s not all day or even every day. And looking after my mistress isn’t hard, just tiring - you’ve seen the energy she has."</p><p>"I noticed it. My mistress isn’t hard to look after either and thankfully she’s mostly calm. Unless she gets herself in a chaotic situation and needs rescuing by one of her friends." Talia admitted. "She works a lot and isn’t really interested in parties and other social gatherings. She only goes to them to network. What kind of subject is your mistress studying?"</p><p>"She’s doing fashion design, or something - Isis knows why she went to Olisipo rather than Mediolanum or somewhere. I think next year will be a lot of travel to different places - Britannia and Graecia and who knows where else."</p><p>She twisted onto her side so she could see the younger girl better. "What does your mistress do, or shouldn’t I ask?"</p><p>"No, it’s alright. She does administrative work for a tribune here in the city. Lots of stuff with a computer. I don’t understand much of it but she seems happy," Talia answered with a smile, wondering (and not for the first time) how she could lie so easily about Aurelia’s work. Could it even be called lying if she was partially telling the truth and just left some details out? And why was lying <i>for</i> your owner alright, but lying <i>to</i> your owner something bad? She needed to ask one of the others - maybe.</p><p>She shoved these thoughts in the back of her head and focussed on Ankhes again. "But she also owns a store which sells handmade togas and other high quality clothes - her ancestors were cloth merchants. I guess she’s one too, in a certain way. Your mistress and mine would have at least one topic they could talk about it seems."</p><p>"Maybe we ought to persuade them to work together at some point; I think mine wants to have her own fashion line or something."</p><p>Working together? That… could be interesting - and troublesome, because Aurelia didn’t seem inclined right now to tell her future sister-in-law where and for whom she was really working. And therefore Talia couldn’t tell Drusilla’s slave. She didn’t want to lie again to Ankhes, who seemed a really nice person and so Talia tried to skirt around an answer to the last sentence. </p><p>"I’m not sure what my domina wants. I think the only thing she really wants currently is that her grandmother and  the mother of your mistress stop interfering with her wedding plans. And besides that... " The girl frowned and shrugged a moment later. "Maybe it would be good for her to work with your mistress but in the end the two have to decide that for themselves."</p><p>"If they’re both interested in the same thing, they’ll probably come to some arrangement on their own. Though one of the things that slaves like you and me can do is offer suggestions even if they’re not taken up."</p><p>Oh, she could, Talia was sure of it. If she wasn’t halfway sure that Aurelia had many others things to do. <i>And</i> if she would have the courage to actually suggest such things to her mistress. It wasn’t easy to do so - somehow she still remembered how her former owner always reacted if Talia so much as <i>breathed</i> wrong. She knew it was silly, and Aurelia wasn’t such a nasty person, but it was hard to forget the lesson to always stay quiet and never ask for anything, let alone suggesting.</p><p>"I… Yes, I know. I’m just often…" Talia shook her head and cleared her throat before she started anew. "Mistress Aurelia is a very nice lady. The woman that owned me before her was… less nice. She screeched at me if I said something, anything in her presence. Or throw things at me. I kind of still fear Mistress Aurelia will suddenly do the same - she never gave the indication that she could be mean to me but still…" Talia sighed heavily. </p><p>Ankhes reached across the gap between their cots so she could pat Talia’s hand. "Well, maybe you don’t suggest it, then. Not if you feel like that - you grow into it, and it does take time to get used to a new owner."</p><p>"Thank you," Talia said quietly. "I just wonder how much more time has to pass before I’m not afraid any more. She’s owned me for nearly two and a half years now and is always kind."</p><p>"I don’t know." Ankhes tucked herself further down into the blankets. "But Saturnalia might be a good time to try asking, maybe just something small - like trying one of my shawls?"</p><p>Talia’s face lit up and she nodded, but had to suppress a yawn before she could answer. "Oh, I will do that. First thing in the morning after I took care of my mistress’ hair. I really hope she allows it - those shawls look really pretty."</p><p>"You should go to sleep, I don’t want to keep you awake," Ankhes said with a smile and a yawn of her own.</p><p>Talia tried to suppress another yawn and nodded. "You’re not keeping me awake," she assured the other girl, wrapping the covers securely around herself and the plush bunny. "But yes, morning comes always too soon. I hope you sleep well."</p><p>"And you." Ankhes tucked herself even further down in the blankets and was soon asleep.</p><p>Talia gave her bunny a last cuddle before she pulled the covers up to her nose and closed her eyes as well. She was curious what the next day would bring but was asleep only minutes later too.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Olisipo: Lisbon<br/>Mediolanum: Milan</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Translations:<br/>errare humanum est - (title) To err is human<br/>Vigilium - police force, emergency services (see the excellent overview posted here)<br/>domina - mistress, female equivalent of dominus, master<br/>tabula - tablet<br/>domus - town house<br/>impluvium - the shallow pool in a Roman atrium<br/>pallium - male citizen's garment, less formal and cumbersome than a toga. Often colourful and could be worn in a variety of ways, usually pinned at the shoulder with a brooch<br/>lararium - private household shrine with a sacred space around it where a slave could claim sanctuary<br/>flammeum - flame-coloured veil, part of a Roman bride's traditional clothing<br/>taxa capra - cycleshaw</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>